NCAMES Kicks Up PR Efforts, Tackles HME's 'Bum Rap'

CARY, N.C. — NCAMES has taken to the airwaves in an effort to get the word out about competitive bidding.

"Several months back we kind of hit a plateau in support of H.R. 3790 [to repeal competitive bidding] and we realized we weren't making any headway, so we felt the need to kick it up a notch," said Beth Bowen, executive director of the North Carolina Association for Medical Equipment Services.

"We wanted to try to get the number of cosponsors for 3790 up. That was one of our first goals, but we also wanted to help improve and change the image of our industry because we know it's gotten a bum rap in the media."

While "it takes a team from a staff level to dedicate to an effort like this," Bowen said, with close to 300 members "NCAMES is a strong association and was able to bite off a financial commitment to do it."

The association hired public relations firm Menzies Consulting, and since, NCAMES and its members have been featured speaking about the bidding program in a number of newspaper articles and television stories, Bowen said. "One story about competitive bidding was picked up by Time Warner Cable and ran all over the whole state for several days," she said. "It really got us a lot of attention. I got emails from all over, so that was very effective."

The association has also published the first two podcasts in a series of educational shorts that detail how Medicare regulations are creating a monopoly and threatening to cost nearly 1,500 jobs in the state.

"Suicide Bidding" features Franklin Trammell, president of Carolina's Home Medical Equipment in Matthews, N.C., discussing the bidding process. In the podcast, Trammell explains how the bidding rules are forcing "suicide bidding" by small local companies like his and pushing them out of business.

According to Trammell, HME businesses aren't bidding based on costs but out of desperation. "If they don't win a bid ... it's a bullet to the head; if they do win a bid, it's like having terminal cancer," he said.

The second podcast, "H.R. 3790," features Bowen explaining the background behind H.R. 3790. "If H.R. 3790 does not pass, we're looking at the end of small businesses in the HME sector, period," Bowen said.

Download either podcast from the NCAMES website.

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